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Unless the Syrian rebels figured out some way to fake the presence of sarin in the bloodstream of some volunteers, the Syrian regime used chemical weapons and crossed the red line . . . and no one can come up with a way to demonstrate the consequences of crossing that line.

But U.S. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) told ABC News yesterday that the FBI is also looking into "persons of interest" in the U.S. possibly linked to the Boston bombings.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said he's spoken with the FBI about the probe into possible trainers the brothers had.

"Are they overseas in the Chechen region or are they in the United States?" he said. "In my conversations with the FBI, that's the big question. They've casted a wide net both overseas and in the United States to find out where this person is. But I think the experts all agree that there is someone who did train these two individuals."

State lawmakers have launched an investigation into whether the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings improperly received public benefits.

Sources who have seen the 500 pages of documents sent to the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight told News Center 5's Janet Wu that the Tsarnaev family -- including the parents of the two bombing suspects, the two suspects themselves, their sisters, the widow of the suspect killed and their child -- received "every conceivable public benefit available out there."

That's the conclusion to draw from the new report on gross domestic product. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, which was an improvement from the weak 0.4 percent of the final months of 2012… We're muddling along at basically the same pace we've been at for nearly four straight years of this dismal recovery, with growth too slow to make up the lost economic ground from the 2008-2009 recession."

National debt? $16,756,644,393,707.05, as of Friday. (That's $16.7 trillion.)

In total, it appears that there will be 30 million to 40 million people damaged in some fashion by the Affordable Care Act—more than one in 10 Americans. When that reality becomes clearer, the law is going to start losing its friends in the media, who are inclined to support the president and his initiatives. We'll hear about innocent victims who saw their premiums skyrocket, who were barred from seeing their usual doctor, who had their hours cut or lost their insurance entirely—all thanks to the faceless bureaucracy administering a federal law.

With all of this going on, guess what the top story was on Memeorandum, measuring what bloggers and news sites are writing about?

Hours after Collins disclosed his sexuality in an online article, Obama reached out by phone, expressing his support and telling Collins he was impressed by his courage, the White House said.

Collins, 34, becomes the first active player in one of four major U.S. professional sports leagues to come out as gay. He has played for six teams in 12 seasons, including this past season with the Washington Wizards, and is now a free agent.

This president can't get squat done about North Korea or Syria, and so he doesn't want us to focus on those far-off lands. His policies have done diddlysquat for most of the long-term unemployed. He's not interested in throwing people off public assistance, even when they don't deserve it, and he wants to insist that every terror attack is a one-time occurrence, instead of connected bits of an international ideological movement dedicated to killing Americans. Obamacare's a mess, and he's hoping you don't notice. The national debt continues to increase, even with the alleged horrors of sequestration.

"God, gays, and guns." That's what he's got left. And that's what he hopes stays on your mind, for as many days between now and November 2014 as possible.

Unless the Syrian rebels figured out some way to fake the presence of sarin in the bloodstream of some volunteers, the Syrian regime used chemical weapons and crossed the red line . . . and no one can come up with a way to demonstrate the consequences of crossing that line.

I'm seeing comments here to the effect that no one's heard of this guy, he's just trying to keep his career going, etc. I'm not a sports fan, and I know most of you are, so - let me ask: if a real "sports hero" of yours came out, someone you loved to watch play, someone who was tops at his game, would it affect your perception of him? Would you stop watching him play? Just curious as to how much difference it would make.

"Today, [the American voter] chooses his rulers as he buys bootleg whiskey, never knowing precisely what he is getting, only certain that it is not what it pretends to be." - H.L. Mencken

I'm seeing comments here to the effect that no one's heard of this guy, he's just trying to keep his career going, etc. I'm not a sports fan, and I know most of you are, so - let me ask: if a real "sports hero" of yours came out, someone you loved to watch play, someone who was tops at his game, would it affect your perception of him? Would you stop watching him play? Just curious as to how much difference it would make.

LOL.

It doesn't seem to affect female athletes the same way it does males. Martina never had to hide her sexuality, at least not after she defected here.

Mark Levin was rather disappointing on this subject tonight. It seems his objection was that he had never heard of this player and that Collins only scores 2 pts per game. It seemed a bit petty.

I would be a liar if I didn't confess that I also wish it had been someone better known and better looking. Peja Stojakovic perhaps.

Actually what you're lying about is what you characterize as Levin's only "objection".

There is nothing courageous about what Collins did. Courageous is declaring something like that while you're a member of the Iranian or Saudi Arabian national team. Make that declaration in America and yo get praise by the President via the Spokesdork at the WH.

Like Levin said...so now we know what kind of sex he likes to have and who he likes to have it with. Big deal. What does that have to do with the sport he plays?

But to sit there and say that the only comment Levin had on it was the fact he average's 2.0 points a game is lying by omission on your part. That comment was made as he was coming back form commercial after the opening segment of the show...which he kicked off talking about Jason Collins.

It doesn't seem to affect female athletes the same way it does males. Martina never had to hide her sexuality, at least not after she defected here.

Yes, but the average gym teacher usually does have to hide her sexuality. Celebrity can be a kind of protection, and as long as Martina was not near kids dressing out in a locker room, people didn't really have fear of her. The average lesbian often still lives in fear of losing her job if she's outed, especially outside the major cities.

This Jason Collins thing is interesting. There have been male athletes who have either said they were gay or were widely assumed to be gay. Of course these athletes were in sports like figure skating and gymnastics. Johnny Weir, for example, came out after the 2010 Olympics and continued to competitively figure skate afterwards. But that was figure skating, which, like gymnastics, men do not consider to be a real or macho sport, despite the evidence that both sports require some of the highest levels of fitness and endurance.

Weir was also white, and that makes a difference too. The black churches generally frown on homosexuality--even Weird Al Sharpton was talking about that yesterday on MSNBC--and the black community is not, generally, accepting. As recently as 2008, black voters in California voted FOR prop 8 (against gay marriage) by a 70-30 margin. There was speculation that prop 8 owed a lot of its victory to the blacks (and Catholic Hispanics) who came out in droves for Obama in 2008. Whites were strongly against Prop 8 in large numbers.

I'm trying to think of the equivalent of Collins in the more traditional female world. I don't know if women would get all bent out of shape that a beauty queen was gay. But there was that incident in Canada where they tried to take the transsexual out of competition. That situation may be the closest equivalent.

His contract ended last week. His career is done. Hence the reason he made the announcement.

From what I have heard 50/50. So I will revise: Best of luck to him in his future endeavors.

Now my thoughts on the reaction: This really shouldn't be that big of a deal. It should be out of the news by the weekend. Just comes down to how the media deals with it. In my opinion, ESPN should really be the only people covering this story, being that he is an athlete and this isn't necessarily earth shattering news. Although it is a big deal in the world of sports.

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” – Ayn Rand

I'm seeing comments here to the effect that no one's heard of this guy, he's just trying to keep his career going, etc. I'm not a sports fan, and I know most of you are, so - let me ask: if a real "sports hero" of yours came out, someone you loved to watch play, someone who was tops at his game, would it affect your perception of him? Would you stop watching him play? Just curious as to how much difference it would make.

Let me preface this by saying that I do beleive homosexuality is wrong. Let me follow that up by saying, I don't care what two consenting adults do behind closed doors.

I liken this to Chipper Jones, 3rd baseman for the Braves. He was screwing around on his wife with a local Hooters girl in Atlanta. I also believe adultery is just as wrong as homosexuality. Nonetheless, I still rooted for Chipper year after year because he was a part of the Atlanta Braves.

Long story short, "Just shut up and do your damn job." You just want to be treated like everyone else, then don't issue press releases divulging your private business.

Lot's of people didn't approve of interracial couples, but Charles Barkley didn't issue a statement saying he liked white women. He just married one. The public will figure it out.

I feel that once a black fella has referred to white foks as "honky paleface devil white-trash cracker redneck Caspers," he's abdicated the right to get upset about the "N" word. But that's just me. -- Jim Goad

From what I have heard 50/50. So I will revise: Best of luck to him in his future endeavors.

Now my thoughts on the reaction: This really shouldn't be that big of a deal. It should be out of the news by the weekend. Just comes down to how the media deals with it. In my opinion, ESPN should really be the only people covering this story, being that he is an athlete and this isn't necessarily earth shattering news. Although it is a big deal in the world of sports.

EVERY guest on EVERY show on ESPN Radio has been asked about this for the past two days.

I feel that once a black fella has referred to white foks as "honky paleface devil white-trash cracker redneck Caspers," he's abdicated the right to get upset about the "N" word. But that's just me. -- Jim Goad